50 Painfully Awkward Times People Misread Social Cues So Badly It Still Haunts Them
There’s not a single person in the world who hasn’t embarrassed themselves in a social situation. No matter how charismatic and smooth you think you are, everyone’s brain goes ‘derp’ from time to time, leading to a bunch of awkwardness.
In a viral reel on Instagram, popular YouTuber Connor Flannery (@connorpugs) asked his followers to share the most jaw-droppingly bad moments when they misread social cues. Scroll down for their stories. Just… get ready for more secondhand embarrassment than watching The Office.
Not me but a coworker. I work at Chick-Fil-A and I was working with a new guy who was being trained with my friend. The new guy kept on trying to make sure he said “my pleasure” and “they’ll have your food at the window” but once he messed up and said “they’ll pleasure you at the window.” I couldn’t stop laughing the whole shift.
I was buying a slushie that was 3.28 dollars and I gave him 3. He said “you need 28 more cents” but I thought he said you have an extra 28 cents so I said “oh no that’s okay” and he was like “you still have to pay…”
Broadly speaking, the best way to handle any socially awkward and embarrassing situations is to lean into them. Your first reactions might be to pretend that nothing happened, to defend yourself, or to run away.
However, when you acknowledge that you messed up (with a liberal addition of humor on top), you end up coming out on top. Not only do you defuse the awkwardness by accepting what happened, but you also appear approachable and down-to-earth to everyone else.
And it’s not like you can perfectly avoid embarrassing yourself. It’s going to happen sooner or later. So, it’s smarter to learn how to react healthily now than to blunder around in the future.
I’m a waitress… typically as soon as the table sets I bring chips & salsa along with a hot soup !! There was a toddler about 2 years old sitting on the edge with her high chair!
Soooo as I was placing down the things I covered the soups and said “ohh be careful, I don’t want her accidentally putting her hand in.”
They all look at each other & as I look for the baby’s hands, she had no arms.😭😭😭😭
The fear is that all of your embarrassment can turn into deep-seated shame if you keep ignoring your feelings. And the odds are that you don’t want memories of socially awkward encounters haunting your steps for the next few decades.
If you have trouble coming to terms with the mistakes you’ve made, you may want to reach out to a therapist. They’ll help you reframe your experiences and empower you. They’ll also help you create the behavioral tools you need to react to social stress better.
Just keep in mind that therapy isn’t magic. Mental health specialists guide and support you, but you have to do all the heavy emotional work yourself.
The cashier told me to “have a good day” but i had my headphones on and thought she said “do you need a receipt” so i said “no thank you” and she just said ” oh ok.”
One time at the cashier I was asked if I wanted the items double or single bagged. But I thought I heard “Are you single?” So, I confidently was like, “Im sorry, Im married” Showing my wedding ring. And the dude was like, “noooo.. noooo.. I asked if you want it single or double bagged.” I wanted to disappear. I awkwardly laughed while I paid and left.
According to Verywell Mind, it’s important that you accept that embarrassment is unavoidable, but also temporary. “It’s not about trying to avoid [embarrassing moments] altogether (spoiler: that’s impossible), but more about being mentally prepared to handle them like a pro when they happen.”
To cope with those situations better, you should try to visualize positive outcomes. You’ll be less anxious if you imagine yourself handling embarrassment well.
What’s more, you can look at embarrassment as an opportunity to strengthen your resilience. In other words, you get better with practice. You’ll slowly build more and more confidence.
I was at a red light and as the light turned green several more cars kept going thru the light. I started honking my horn and cursing at the cars and I started edging up to go because they just kept coming thru and finally someone yelled “it’s a funeral procession [jerk]!!!”.
Knew someone who had cancer, they were talking to me about a big procedure and I was listening intently, nodding and giving responses. I even said “thank you so much for telling me it means a lot that you’d talk to me about something like this”. … They were on the phone with someone else! It went on for five minutes before I realized.
What is the most socially awkward situation that you’ve ever found yourself in, Pandas? What is the latest social cue you missed that made you feel deeply embarrassed?
How do you tend to react when you mess up and find yourself stuck in situations like these? Share your thoughts and advice in the comments section at the very bottom of this post.
Was in an elevator with a woman in a wheelchair. Me being me, decided small talk was a good idea. First line I opened with was “great day to go for a jog really”.
One time I went on a hike with my boyfriend and his family like 2 months into dating (and this was the first weekend I got to meet them bc they live halfway across the country) and his grandmother had [passed away] that year and they had this little Tupperware with them and the mom (whose mom was the one who passed away) had pulled it out and I forget why I thought it was relevant (I think they wanted to buy some taffy earlier in the way while we were shopping around) but I went “oh is that taffy?” And then was told no -it was in fact some of her mothers ashes and then they spread them in a beautiful spot on the hike and cried together and it was so sweet and I was mortified.
Thankfully my bf and his dad thought it was funny and no one was truly offended bc I wasn’t told prior that this was happening at all but I wanted to [disappear] in that moment.
Worked at a gas station, guy comes in and says “I’m at pump 8, can I get some gas?” And I say “would you like that in a cup or a cone?” Idk what I was on.
One time someone said “what’s up my dog!?” (I was new to English slang, not 1st language) I said “nothing much my weiner!” Like a weiner dog. Turns out that’s not the saying, and he wasn’t talking to me.
Last night my neighbor was walking by my house and instead of waving hello I started clapping…as I said hi.
I was walking out of a store and I thought some random persons car was my moms car so I opened the door and someone was sitting there and I screamed.
Art class…there was this girl next to me drawing a full body OC and I said “I love your body!” she said “thank you- wait what?”
At college my friend invited me to sit with him and his friends while we were getting food and before we sat down. I went to a random group of girls thinking that was the table and that he just hadn’t sat down yet. I started chatting and I asked them if they knew my friend and they were like “um no, why?” And then I realized I just barged in on their friend group.
A patient of mine was getting deployed for the military a few days after their visit. As they were leaving I said “good luck with deportation.”
I was at prom and I saw my senior friend and her bf sitting on a bench outside. So I walk over and I say “well if it isn’t my favorite couple” little did I realize her bf had literal tears streaming down his face. They were breaking up.
The rainforest cafe in galveston has a ride and the same worker directed us to the ride, sold us tickets, operated the ride, and was at the gift shop counter, my mom said “oh my god you keep popping up like an oompa loompa.”
He also happened to be short and mixed.
Almost hit a woman walking her child with my bike cuz I was doing my Duolingo while riding. I was thinking about Spanish so I just said “espanol” as I rode away.
I was in a store with my husband and i was looking for a perfume. I accidentally hurt a woman with my purse, said sorry to her and told her “sorry i didn’t see you”. She replied “Don’t mind. Me too.” She was blind 😭
I had an interview and asked to add the recruiter on linkedin after, he said yes then stretched out his hand for a handshake and I put my phone in his hand thinking he wanted to put in his linkedin info.
Was writing for an exam and when the exam was over, a teacher came to me and put his hand forward and nonchalant me, gave my hand back as if it was a marriage proposal, not realising he was there collecting pens they provided us…..I failed the exam, and failed in life as well🙂
I work at Walmart and a customer came up to me with a translator for Spanish so I pulled out my translators and started helping them and then realized halfway I was speaking half gibberish bc my translator was in French not Spanish.
After giving an interview, I stretched out to shake his hand and my brain broke simultaneously. I mashed up “It was nice to get to know you a little better” and “have a nice day” and instead I said, “nice knowin’ ya. We both were shocked…I stood there with my mouth hanging open as he looked down at the floor and then walked away. He didn’t get the job. This was 15 years ago.
Mike, buddy, I am still rooting for you.
In an effort to sympathize with someone who said that she has “pretty severe epilepsy” I promptly responded with “awe so does my cat”. The silence that followed was so loud
We went to a gunrange with cousins and the instructor told us he used to be a cop, my cousin asked him why srent you anymore? And he said my mother had a tumor in her brain amd had to get surgery 14 times so i just said oh, my condolences. Turns out he wasnt done with his sentence as he said so i am taking care of her now. Was between laughing and cringing (who survives 14 surgeries???)
Walking by, I thought a co-worker was reaching for a fist bump. He actually moved his arm to lean against a scaffolding and that’s right as my fist made contact with his 💀💀 He looked at me sideways too 😭 absolutely excruciating.
In my freshman year of college, there were a boy and a girl in my course who used to spend a lot of time together, playing cards, telling dirty jokes and other stuff, they seemed like real bros. One day I’m playing cards with them and I tell them how cute their sibling bond is. A week later I found out they are dating.
When i was fifteen i went to seaworld and was taking pictures on my camera. a woman and her daughter came over and asked if i could take a picture of them both on her phone but i thought she asked “were you just taking pictures of us” so i just said “no sorry” and walked off.
I told a cashier she could keep the change. She said there was no change. I had exactly the amount of money.. never going there again.
I told what I thought was an old lady she didn’t look a day over 40, she wasn’t.
The executive in a shop wished me merry christmas thrice. I couldn’t understand, so i said it’s ok because I was too embarrassed to ask again. The fourth time the person and his colleagues yelled merry christmas in a chorus.
When I was little, we went out for dinner and the waitress was older and had kind of a raspy voice. And when she walked away from our table I turned to my mom and, quite loudly, I said “I thought she was a witch or something!”
My old coworker was telling us about her surgery she had on her hand and i said “oh for cerebral palsy?” Bruh i meant to say carpal tunnel 😭😭 they were just standing there staring at me. It was so embarrassing.
So where i live we do cheek to cheek kisses when shaking in certain times and with certain people and all, I never liked it because it’s a tradition that changes depending on the person. So i once shaked hands with my friend’s UNCLE, he’s an old guy so i assumed he would do that because it’s tradition… he didn’t, and i had to kinda pull him in, the worst thing is that I didn’t know how many and what cheek, it was the most embarrassing thing in my entire life, the worst thing is that I could see my friend’s face cringing while shaking hands, then he started laughing uncontrollably.
I was in Basic training and the commander had sent us on some random errand that required an empty bottle. Had to go up to every DS truck and beg for one – one of them just looked at me and handed me a bottle with murky brown liquid. I wasn’t the brightest back then so I just took it and went away and went to dump it out on the grass.
My battle buddies screeched to high heavens – it was a spit bottle for dip. fyi I didn’t graduate.
